Context: Recently, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has released 19-point directives for Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to eliminate stubble burning.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed the constitution of state-level committees in these states to file monthly reports to CAQM. The committees have been tasked to monitor the implementation of the CAQM directions.
Relevance of the topic:
Prelims: Key facts about Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM).
Mains: Stubble Burning: Concerns & government Initiatives to prevent stubble burning.
Key highlights of the CAQM Action Plan:
- Technological Interventions:
- Mapping of each farm in all villages.
- Effective use of IT platforms for planning, procurement, machine booking and their utilisation.
- Set up an online platform for real-time monitoring of crop residue and its utilisation
- Tagging of special nodal officers to a group of farmers to cover all the districts.
- Machinery and Infrastructure:
- Comprehensive review of inventories with a fresh gap analysis and procurement plan for different machinery types to be conducted this year.
- Timely procurement of new crop-residue-management (CRM) machines.
- Optimal availability of machines, mainly for small, marginal farmers. Compulsory rent-free CRM machines for such farmers.
- Plan machine movement based on harvesting patterns, schedules.
- Optimal use of balers, rakers, among other machines for ex-situ management.
- Ex-situ Crop Residue Management:
- Plan for storage facilities. Parcels of government or panchayat lands to be identified for storage of paddy straw bales
- District-level supply chain management
- Fix common procurement price for paddy straw in Punjab & UP
- Promotion of various government schemes for ex-situ management
- Set up a pilot common paddy straw-based boiler in industrial units
- Use paddy straw pellets for co-firing in brick kiln on line with TPPs
- Enforcement Measures:
- Set up a dedicated Parali Protection Force (made up of police, agriculture, and civic officers) to closely monitor, oversee and guard against stubble burning incidents.
- Intensified patrolling to prevent evasion of satellite monitoring of farm fires.
- Help citizens report complaints on social media platforms.
- Farmers who still burn straw risk “red entries” in their land records and environmental compensation fines.
Commission For Air Quality Management (CAQM):
- CAQM is a statutory body established under the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021.
- Objective: To coordinate, research and address problems related to air quality in the national Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas.
- Adjoining areas include: areas in the states of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh adjoining the NCR where any source of pollution may cause adverse impact on air quality in the NCR.
- It dissolved the Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority established in the NCR.
Also Read: Burning of Agricultural Residue